The Highwayman
by ArtisticPrincess
Summary: Dib, the one man rebellion against the Irken Empire, sneeks to an uncharted planet in the middle of its night to meet with his love, Tak the Irken Invader, under the cover of moonlight. what shall become of them? will they forever love in secret? or will their love trully be their doom. (changed to oneshot unless people want the full thing.)


The stars twinkled all about Dib as he flew through space. It was nothing new to him; he had been flying this particular route for months now. He pressed a few buttons and the sound of the warp drive hummed in his ears. A smile crossed his face. _'Who would of thought this would be a routine for me?_' he certainly hadn't. He was what, 18 maybe 19 now? It's hard to tell in space. And he had been in space for a while he knew that much. It wasn't really a choice. He had nowhere else to go. His planet had been conquered and destroyed a long time ago by a certain annoying green menace.

Dib sat back and sighed heavily with regret at the memory. He had been too late. Too late to save anyone else. He himself barley managed to escape in his half repaired ship. And even then he had wondered space aimlessly for a good month until _she_ found him. It hadn't been on good terms right away, of course. He had been shot at repeatedly on more occastions then he could remember. But she was the reason he was still alive. The reason he was able to fly the universe with no problem. And she had even been a good reason he had any sucess with his new cause in life.

Waging a one man war against the Irken Empire.

Oh he wasn't going to just let them get away with what they did! Especially not Zim! He would travel throughout the universe, making allies with all enemies of the Irken race, getting comfortable with the underground trades, learning every weakness and every strength they had. He had blown up more supply ships, coming fleets, and snack suppliers then he could count; if ever it was important to the Irken Empire he would find a way to make sure they never got to use it.

And because of this he had earned his name on the Tallest personal hate list. An accomplishment that he was quite proud of.

Dib was drawn out of his musing by a light beeping noise. Telling him he was above his destination. A light purple and blue planet he had never really bothered to get the name of. He only came there for one reason. Silently he slipped through the atmosphere and into a patch of forest he had parked in many times before, and calmly walked the path he had made by treading over the grass for a good 6 months.

He found he was whistling after a moment. What was that tune? He felt like the rhythm was familiar, but wasn't sure where he'd heard it before. Sounded old, maybe he'd read it in one of those old spell books he had had as a kid.

'_The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees; the moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas…'_

Dib's eye caught the lights of a little town a good two miles outside the forest. He had to admit it looked like a great place to live. Nothing like his old city with all the cars and pollution and jerks shoving you out of the way, this town looked more like those little places you only could hear from a story book. With fires burning in the houses to keep them lit and warm, and with peaceful hard working people who were just trying to get by. He couldn't help but wonder what they possibly could have done to have been marked for invasion.

The glow of a two story wood house came into view and Dib smiled. It was slightly off when compared to the town. But in a way that you could stare at it all day and still not be able to find anything weird, but you knew something was. Maybe that was just because Dib knew there was something different about this particular house. Still whistling, perhaps louder now in the hopes that the owner of the house would know of his presence, Dib walked along to the back of the house, stopping beneath a second story window where a light too bright to be from a fire illuminated the night.

'_Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn yard; and he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred…'_

A small black figure flashed at the window and slid down the wall like a shadow, stopping at Dibs feet. He didn't flinch. Instead he kneeled down and scratched the red eyed cat behind the ear. "Hey, MIMI, is Tak home?" The disguised SIR unit made a low sound that simulated a purr at Dib's touch and she nuzzled his hand affectionately. MIMI didn't let anything this close to her besides her mistress, but Dib was the acceptation. At his question she pulled back and her red eyes flashed in response before she once again slipped up the wall and onto the windowsill. Where a tall green figure stood waiting to pet her in appreciation and send her off to keep watch.

Dib smiled widely at the figure. Her hologram disguise disabled to show her true form. A proud Irken female in a purple and pink uniform with hypnotizing purple eyes and mint green skin, Her curled antennas perked up just a little as she looked down at him, a small stitch like smile across her face.

Dib happily returned the smile as he gazed at her. "Aren't you being risky turning off your disguise?" not that he was complaining. Tak let out a small chuckle, by her nature it sounded cruel but to him it was music. "Aren't you being risky revealing yourself to an Irken soldier?" she teased him, leaning out the window a bit. "Point made." Dib shrugged. He couldn't stay long, and had no time to play their game.

Tak caught his message and with one quick motion she jumped from the window, landing gracefully at Dib's side. She turned to him with her hands on her hips as if it had been a simple gesture. 'Show off' was written all over Dib's face. A smug smile escaped Tak. It wasn't her fault he hadn't gotten years of advanced military training.

Dib was quick to get over his jealousy. After all what had he really to be jealous of? He should be proud to have someone like her, and he was. Swiftly he took the slightly shorter girl into his arms and leaned down to place his lips to hers sweetly. When he pulled away he had to stiffen a laugh at Tak's expression, her eyes glazed over and an unconscious smile on her face. "But that makes it worth it." Dib cupped Tak's cheek in his hand, her senses returned to her. Her smile softened and her eyes sparkled up at him.

They held each other for a moment. Enjoying the warm breeze surrounding them, and the light of the moon washing over them, finally Dib pulled back and placed another kiss on Tak's forehead. Then looked back into her eyes hopefully, "that was for luck; I'm going after something big tonight." Tak tried to hide her flinch. She knew what that meant. "What is it?" she asked with a slight shake in her voice. Dib kept his own voice leveled and light, he knew this was probably hard for Tak, after all these were her people. "There's a cargo of Megadoomers going to aid in the invasion on Meekrob, I'm going to sabotage the shipment before it can leave the factory." He looked off to the side as he spoke, but it didn't matter, when he turned back to Tak her face still showed her guilt and worry.

She knew Dib was the enemy. She heard about all his missions both from him and through the Tallest once they had been carried out. She had even been offered the job to lead a squad assigned with eliminating him. She had declined as calmly as she could, claiming she was of more use with the invaders. But still, he was a threat to the Irken Empire, a villain to her people…and yet she would meet him under the moon each time he came to see her, she would not give any anonymous warning that a ship would be attacked, or give away any of his base locations. And this Dib, despite himself, couldn't help but find wrong. The Empire, being an Invader, they were her everything…weren't they?

"Why don't you turn me over to the Tallest?"

His words came out as a whisper, and even that he had had no control over. The question he had wondered these 8 years simply found its way out. Tak looked at him; both their eyes swam with confusion. But something soon replaced that in Tak's. Disbelief, then it tuned to realization, and slight frustration.

With all these emotions in her eyes, Tak took Dib's face in her hands and held him in place. Her annoyance in her voice was evident beneath the softness, like when one explained something simple to a child more than once, "Because I love you, idiot." Before Dib could react to her words her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him down to her level, where she kissed him deeply and needy, wanting for him to understand what she believed was obvious. His mind went foggy with bliss and whatever he had been about too say was forgotten as he wrapped his arms around her waist and returned the kiss with just as much passion.

Tak finally broke the kiss and leaned in close to Dib's ear, gently whispering good luck to him. He smiled at her and took her hands in his; she nodded, the gesture she always used in replace of a goodbye, and turned to return to her base. But Dib still held her by the hand, with no sign of letting go.

"When I'm done, I'm coming back for you."

He said like it was the simplest thing in the world. But to Tak he may as well have said 'let's go kill the Tallest' which she actually suspected to be one of his future goals. Her shock soon wore off. Did she have to explain this to him? Why this wasn't possible? To her it was clear as a sun, she had a duty to serve the Tallest, a duty to her people, and though she could refuse an order so she wouldn't be his death, it was completely different to go rouge! The empire needed her… it was all that she knew….

Before Tak could voice any of her protests however, Dib spoke again, "I know it's not fair to ask you to turn your back on your people, so I won't blame you if you say no, but please at least hear me out…"

Tak didn't say a word, just glanced from their joined hands to him, finally she sighed in defeat, allowing him to continue in his moment of delusions. Dib took a deep breath and straightened his posture. As if he was about to make a very risky move…okay he was. His eyes landed on their hands, he found comfort in this and softly stroked her hand with his thumb. He looked deep into her eyes, maybe in a hope that it would help what he said to get through to her.

"The Irkens destroyed my planet. They have destroyed hundreds of planets. And what did any of them truly do to deserve it? The Tallest are narcissistic idiots who look down on everyone shorter than them, and the rest are drones who just blindly follow anything they say even if it leads them to their graves. But you're not like them Tak. You are brilliant and independent and strong. You're so much more than them. I know that somewhere deep down you know what they do is wrong… you can leave them behind. Nothing would be able to hold us back. You could be free Tak."

Tak stood like a statue, drinking in Dib's words. They shook her to the core of her PAK. And she found herself torn between herself and her programming. She opened and closed her mouth multiple times before any sound came out; she finally managed a small whisper. "I…I don't know Dib…"

She felt so twisted in side. So confused and breaking. She was struggling to keep back tears as her frustration grew. Eating her up inside. She snapped back to reality at the warm arms around her and the soft kiss on her forehead. Her antenna's twitched as he whispered to her. "I won't ask for an answer right now, and I won't blame you if you stay…" she silently thanked him and returned the embrace that gave her so much comfort.

Dib looked down at the beautiful alien in his arms as he gently stroked her antenna's, she purred against his chest, making him laugh quietly to himself. "I'll be back by morning… unless they manage to arrest me; in that case, I'll be here later in the night." Tak couldn't help the smile at the smugness in his tone. She loved that confidence of his, that determination.

Soon the two lovers parted, Dib returning to his ship and Tak to her base, where she watched from her window as her old ship took to the sky and vanished with her mate among the stars.

She couldn't be sure, and it was probably nothing, but she was sure for a moment she heard a humming in the wind as he left…

'_Then look for me by the moonlight, Watch for me by the moonlight, I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way...'_

* * *

**_Authors Note:_**

_**yep this is going to be chaptered. i just started writing this as a mix of the poem, but then i put more of a background to it, and after a while it just became better in my head as a story then poem. for those of you who know the poem well i will tell you that certain things have been agusted with the story to add a level of emotion in each chapter. In other words the whole next chapter is going to be from the point of view of 'Tim.' **_

_**I shall reward a metaphorical cookie to whoever guesses who 'Tim' is :) though i guess it is a bit obviouse...** _

**_Thanks for Reading :D_**


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